Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/266505 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 21-14
Publisher: 
University of Bern, Department of Economics, Bern
Abstract: 
Good teachers are the backbone of a successful education system. Yet, in developing countries, teachers' content knowledge is often inadequate. This study documents that primary school math teachers in the department of Moraz'an in El Salvador only master 47 percent of the curriculum they teach. In a randomized controlled trial with 175 teachers, we further evaluate a computer-assisted learning (CAL) approach to address this shortcoming. After a five months in-service training combining CAL-based self-studying with monthly workshops, participating teachers outperformed their peers from the control group by 0.29σ, but this effect depreciated by 72 percent within one year. Our simulations show that the program is unlikely to be as cost-effective as CAL interventions directly targeting students.
Subjects: 
Education quality
teacher performance
teacher training
student learning
basic math education
computer-assisted learning
JEL: 
C93
I20
I21
I28
O15
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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